Q: on the morning of December 15, local time, the Accounting Supervisory Board of US Public companies (PCAOB) issued a report confirming that the inspection and investigation of accounting firms in mainland China and Hong Kong can be completed in 2022 and revoke the recognition of relevant firms made in 2021. The market generally believes that this marks the positive results of Sino-US audit regulatory cooperation and releases a positive signal for the listing of Chinese enterprises in the United States. Does the China Securities Regulatory Commission have any comments?

A: we have taken note of the report and public statement issued by the US side. We have always advocated to solve the problem of cross-border listing audit supervision through regulatory cooperation mechanism. practice has proved that as long as the two sides uphold the spirit of mutual respect and professional and pragmatic cooperation, we will certainly be able to find a feasible cooperation path that meets their respective legal and regulatory requirements.

The Sino-US Agreement on Audit Supervision Cooperation signed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the US PCAOB on August 26th, 2022, brings the inspection and investigation of relevant accounting firms into the framework of bilateral regulatory cooperation. Since the signing of the cooperation agreement, the regulatory bodies of the two sides have strictly implemented the relevant agreements of their respective laws and regulations and agreements, and have cooperated to carry out a series of fruitful inspection and investigation activities, and all work is progressing smoothly. In the course of cooperation, the two sides fully communicated and coordinated the plans for inspection and investigation activities, and the US side obtained audit manuscripts and other documents through the Chinese regulatory authorities, and conducted interviews and inquiries with relevant personnel of accounting firms with the participation and assistance of the Chinese side. The Chinese side abides by laws and regulations and, with reference to international practice, has specially dealt with specific data such as personal information contained in the manuscripts involved in the inspection and investigation in accordance with the provisions of the cooperation agreement, while both parties perform their regulatory duties in accordance with the law, it meets the requirements of relevant laws and regulations for information security protection.

We welcome the re-determination made by US regulators based on regulatory professional considerations, and look forward to working with US regulators to continue to promote future annual audit regulatory cooperation, mutual respect and mutual trust on the basis of summing up previous cooperation experiences. we will form a regular and sustainable cooperation mechanism, jointly create a more stable and predictable international regulatory environment, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of global investors in accordance with the law.